Italian Moto Fest

[dohc97]

I had this event on my calendar for the longest time.  Too bad, I can't come.  I kept on looking at the sky and it was rain and clouds, ran and clouds all day long for me.

[Henecton]

The turnout was great considering the weather and the comoany was second to none. I am not very fond of custom bikes but old and especially rare motorcycles always are great to see, especially when they are ridden into an event. I especially liked the Laverda that came in as I was leaving and there were others s well. One of Cam's very own won the loudest bike contest, twolanefun, congrats Gene.

[zooom]

I remember seeing and looking over this bike at one point when it was at Donnie's shop to have some niggly electrical/immobilizer issues sorted out....that is a VERY trick and custom machine...but was too garage/show queen for me as I prefer something that gets milage....function over form for me....so a rider wins everytime over a pristine showqueen in my book!...still is a cool bike though!

This bike was the highlight of the show for me.  It is a customized Super Sport 1000 DS.  The builder was Lazareth of France. 

[Travman]

I remember seeing and looking over this bike at one point when it was at Donnie's shop to have some niggly electrical/immobilizer issues sorted out....that is a VERY trick and custom machine...but was too garage/show queen for me as I prefer something that gets milage....function over form for me....so a rider wins everytime over a pristine showqueen in my book!...still is a cool bike though!

It may not be a Sport Touring bike, but I don't think it is fair to call it a show queen either.  AFAIK it was the only bike in the show to actually ride there.  He rode it there despite the morning rain.   I know he rode it there because I saw him about 20 miles outside of Shepherdstown. 

[twolanefun]

AFAIK it was the only bike in the show to actually ride there. 

That is not true I know of at least two others that were ridden to the show. One could argue the merits of how many miles any on the entrants put on their bikes in a year, but that is another whole discussion. - Gene

[potomacduc]

A friend of mine kept nit-picking on that bike, mentioning all the little pieces he didn't like.  Sure, there are things I would change, but there were also a lot of bits I liked.  IMO that's the point; it's one person's individual statement.  While it might not be exactly how I would do a custom, it was very well done and it pulled together a lot of nice features and techniques.  The overall product looked good and worked.

In my opinion, the only stumbling block to non-practical bikes is money.  Since I need one bike to fill all of my riding needs, I have no place for a narrow focused ride.  Give me the $$ and garage space and I would have no problem adding a few "impractical" bikes to the stable.  Now, bikes that don't actually work are another story.  No matter how big my budget and garage, I can't imagine owning a stupid mega-raked chopper.  A bike doesn't have to be practical, but it should at least be able to do a u-turn on a 6 lane road.

[zooom]

It may not be a Sport Touring bike, but I don't think it is fair to call it a show queen either.  AFAIK it was the only bike in the show to actually ride there.  He rode it there despite the morning rain.   I know he rode it there because I saw him about 20 miles outside of Shepherdstown. 

I have seen bikes that were "ridden" into that show in the past and in reality that were unloaded out of a trailer a lil ways from the show and then ridden in for to qualify for that class in maybe not the most honest fashion....what I am referring to moreso are machines like Gene's Monsters (both of them) that get A LOT of milage...his Monster 900 seems to get alot more than the S2R (because the S2R was to be more of a trackbike from the beginning based on what Gene had said in the past) but Gene still cracks it out onto the streets and roads because that's what bikes are meant for...their purpose for being built is to be ridden and enjoyed IMHO...and too many bikes get built for a purpose that isn't riding in a traditional sense as I term it....it doesn't have to be a Sport Tourer or any other specific designated style...it just has to be ridden...and very regularly...and not just fired up 5 minutes before you show up at Starshmucks for to pose by and then go home on later.....machines that are built for shows and posing and so forth are built to suffer from atrophy because they aren't being flexed in the manner for which they were designed...and later on in their life they suffer from it...sometimes very badly...and the owner by that time is usually not the 1 that commissioned the build origionally.

[Travman]

I have seen bikes that were "ridden" into that show in the past and in reality that were unloaded out of a trailer a lil ways from the show and then ridden in for to qualify for that class in maybe not the most honest fashion....what I am referring to moreso are machines like Gene's Monsters (both of them) that get A LOT of milage...his Monster 900 seems to get alot more than the S2R (because the S2R was to be more of a trackbike from the beginning based on what Gene had said in the past) but Gene still cracks it out onto the streets and roads because that's what bikes are meant for...their purpose for being built is to be ridden and enjoyed IMHO...and too many bikes get built for a purpose that isn't riding in a traditional sense as I term it....it doesn't have to be a Sport Tourer or any other specific designated style...it just has to be ridden...and very regularly...and not just fired up 5 minutes before you show up at Starshmucks for to pose by and then go home on later.....machines that are built for shows and posing and so forth are built to suffer from atrophy because they aren't being flexed in the manner for which they were designed...and later on in their life they suffer from it...sometimes very badly...and the owner by that time is usually not the 1 that commissioned the build origionally.

I don't think it is fair to call this bike a show queen.

[potomacduc]

I don't think it is fair to call this bike a show queen.

I agree.  The bike looked to be well put together and to have no dynamic flaws in its design.  I'm sure it's not very comfortable, it certainly isn't  practical and it certainly has limited use, but that's fine.  As an only bike? Never, but in a multi-bike garage something like that could prove quite fun for an occasional romp while another bike or bikes got the bulk of  the mileage.  Styling exercises like these help stir the idea pot and serve as laboratories for new ideas or new combination of existing bits.  If no one was out there trying to do their thing, the world would be a sadder place.  Also, if we start emphasize utility too much, we will get a world full of PC800s.

[twolanefun]

Bravo, well stated, trying different things spawns ideas for the rest of us. The key is that the bike gets used rather than trailered from show to show. The bike in question looked like it would be about as comfortable as a Sport S, nothing wrong with that some can ride that all day, me I cannot handle it for more than 50 miles. I know 4 of the folks who bought the D16RR's in this area, only one of them is getting an real street use - which seems a total shame to me. Just some random thoughts.  - Gene

[potomacduc]

Bravo, well stated, trying different things spawns ideas for the rest of us. The key is that the bike gets used rather than trailered from show to show. The bike in question looked like it would be about as comfortable as a Sport S, nothing wrong with that some can ride that all day, me I cannot handle it for more than 50 miles. I know 4 of the folks who bought the D16RR's in this area, only one of them is getting an real street use - which seems a total shame to me. Just some random thoughts.  - Gene

If you can't afford to crash a Desmosedici and/or if you can't afford the lawyer to get you out of that 180-in-a-65 ticket, you can't afford to own one!

Gene, you need to talk one of those owners into rolling by Rhodeside.  I promise I won't call them a poseur if they crank the throttle a few times.

[zooom]

Gene, you need to talk one of those owners into rolling by Rhodeside.  I promise I won't call them a poseur if they crank the throttle a few times.

one of the owners ( and it is the one that actually rides his Sedici if Gene and I are on the same page) actually talked about riding it to Rhodeside and said that it conducts waaaaaaaaaayyy too much heat to be ridden in a city traffic situation like to get to Rhodeside....you have to be moving to help cool the bike which is partially how it is designed...movement equals in helping cool it and apparently it will cool rapidly while moving from 220+ down to 180...but sitting...all the heat blasts up from the fairings and cooks you....and rather quickly at that.

[tocino]

I volunteer to ride this poor bloke's bike to Rhodeside AND keep it from overheating while doing so.    It's a tough job and a tall order, but somebody has to do it, and I think I am just the tool^h^h^h^h man for the job!   

Tim, I can't let you suffer from the heat in that way. I'll do it. Save yourself. Or better yet, you ride it down, I'll ride it back.

I think this means said D16 owner needs to bring it down come January when it's in the 30s.